Academic Senate Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio  44555

ASC Memo

Statement on Minors

Conditional Admission

TO: Academic Senate

FROM: Academic Standards Committee:
 

RE: Information on Minors and Conditional Admission

Below is information related to Minors and Conditional Admission that the committee will present as formal motions in the March Academic Senate meeting. Comments and questions can be discussed with the committee members listed above. You are also invited to attend the next meeting of the Academic Standards Committee scheduled for Tuesday, February 15, from noon to 2:00 PM in the Cardinal Room in Kilcawley Center.

A minor is an intellectual venture that broadens and deepens the student's intellectual growth. An intellectual framework and coherence are evident in the scope and sequence of the minor course of study. A minor is intended to contrast with or deepen the major or General Education and is to be taken in a discipline other than that of the major.

While all students are expected to complete a minor, certain degree programs require one. Please check with your academic advisor for specific information.

A minor consists of at least 18 hours of a specific sequence of courses, with grades of C or better. Upper-division courses must comprise at least 1/3 of the credit hours in the minor.

A minor is designated on the student's transcript and appears on the student's diploma.

The department offering the minor will develop the specific pattern or sequence of courses to comprise the minor and be responsible for certifying that a student has completed a minor. Prior to offering a minor, the minor program of study is approved through the program approval process. Once approved, departmental requirements and specific courses for the minor are published in the undergraduate bulletin.

An individualized minor may be developed and approved through the ICP process. An interdisciplinary minor is likewise developed and approved through the same process. Transfer students may also use the ICP process for approval of a minor course of study.

January 6, 2000

To: Academic Standards

From: James Scanlon and Deans' Council

Re: High School Preparation—Pre-College (pp. 10-11 of 1999-2000 Undergraduate Bulletin): 16 units or Conditional Admission

Background: Changes are needed so that catalog language reflects YSU (1) practice, (2) policy and the concepts of OBOR upon which that policy is based, (3) changes in general education and the new semester courses and curriculums, and (4) our expectations of the level of proficiency and the knowledge required of our associate and baccalaureate graduates and the courses that will enable them to succeed in college and in life.

Experience of the last 15 years has demonstrated the inefficacy of the deficiency model imposed by OBOR upon the state universities as a way to improve students' readiness to do college work. At the state level and at the universities, expectations of what a student should study in preparation for college (and thus know and in most instances build upon) have not changed, but the approach to how to best effect that readiness has increasingly become proficiency based. See pages 10-11 from the Bulletin.

Changes needed:

1. From the first sentence "Pre-College: Students graduating from high school after September 1985 ... should have completed the following college preparatory units to be considered as having unconditional admission status:" Drop the italicized phrases and the whole of the paragraph that begins "Students who have been admitted to the University with conditional status ...."

[Editorial change will drop the separate list for the associate degree and reflect differences within the single chart. The state has no separate list of expectations for associate degree students; the labeling of high school deficiencies is inoperative; and the numbers on the chart are wrong and add up to 17-18 rather than 16. The sentence "Students wishing to . . ." on is to be deleted. Individual programs may want to construct more particular advice and are free to do so. See, for example, the paragraph that begins "In addition, the Bachelor of Engineering. . . ."]

Rationale:

1. Students with high school deficiencies had never been categorized as "conditionally admitted" after we admitted them to the University. It has always been an inoperative phrase. In practice, each deficiency was treated as an individual instance, and the remedy was specific for that particular recommendation.
2. The category is operative only for International Student Applicants who do not have the specified level of English proficiency (see Index of 1999-2000 Bulletin).
3. General education course requirements now assure that all students in baccalaureate programs must take additional coursework in the areas of fine arts, laboratory science, mathematics (see chart), and societies and institutions, with foreign languages being the one exception.
4. Associate programs also establish their expectations in the areas of relevant high school preparation through major and general education requirements, with mathematics being one exception in a few programs.

To address the exceptions:

1. In the case of Mathematics for Associate Degree Students:

All students must take 1501 or place into a higher level mathematics course.
Rationale: In effect we would be assuring, that all graduates for two year programs had equivalent of 8th or 9th grade math skills.

2. In the case of Foreign Language for Baccalaureate Degree Students other than the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science who have College Foreign Language Requirements (see Arts and Sciences and Fine and Performing Arts):
Students must either:
 

A. Take Foreign Language 1500 [(see attached course description; this is a course designed for students who have had no foreign language study and whose college degree program requires no further coursework); a one semester course is replacing the present 1 year of foreign language study required of students who do not enter with 2 years of high school foreign language study].

B. Take a foreign language course in one of the foreign languages offered by YSU (courses require a placement exam to assure student's readiness to begin foreign language study at that level).

C. Provide proof of 2 years or more of high school foreign language study or its equivalence.

Chart on pp. 11 and 12 would remain as is with exceptions where needed for associate degree programs (for example the note after Foreign Language would include the information that 2 years of Foreign Language Study is not an expectation for associate degree programs).

Editorial suggestion not needing senate action: Add a note that refers to the Academic Policies and Procedures Section for information on placement testing and how students take care of meeting our college expectations in English, Mathematics, and Reading. Foreign Languages should be added here.

This chart summarizes the changes for each of the areas.
 

Note:  Change in Foreign Language Requirement for B.A. and B.S. degrees
 
 

Quarters	Semesters
B.A.—2 years of foreign language study in 2 languages or 5 quarters in one language  [could also be satisfied by 4 years of foreign language study]	B. A.—completion of 2600 (intermediate) foreign language study—students begin FL study with either 1550 (elementary) or 2600 (intermediate) and may test out of 2600
B. S.—4 quarters of foreign language study	B.S.—completion of 2600; 2nd course in a foreign language sequence

Attachments:

Foreign Language 1500 course description; course descriptions of elementary and intermediate courses in a foreign language; diagram of mathematics sequence for different degree; catalog copy of 10 and 11. [Note from BKB: These were not attached in the material provided by the Academic Standards Committee.]